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By Jan Mueller, Executive Director ASPO-USA

As many Peak Oil Review readers know, ASPO-USA has launched a regular webinar series to provide in-depth analysis and discussion of a wide variety of Peak Oil and energy-related topics.  You may have seen information regarding the first two webinars held this past month-one on shale gas featuring Art Berman, and another on global oil exports featuring Jeffrey Brown.  I would like to use this opportunity to say a little more about the webinar series, because I hope you will take advantage of this rich information resource-and I hope it will provide another great reason for you to begin or renew your ASPO-USA membership.

The series is part of ASPO-USA’s ongoing efforts to harness the knowledge and brain power of our expert network, and is intended to complement ASPO-USA’s other educational activities.  A webinar, in case you are not familiar, is simply a way to give a presentation remotely with the help of web-based tools to display visual information and broadcast sound (attendees also have the option to participate via telephone).  The format, however, can be adapted in many different ways.  It can feature one presenter with questions and discussion, or a multi-person panel.  It can employ a standard one-way presentation, or it can be structured as an interview, panel discussion, or debate.  ASPO-USA intends to explore and employ these different variations.

Each webinar is intended to provide a stand-alone treatment of a given topic, but we also intend that the webinar series taken as a whole will “add up” to provide a coherent and integrated understanding of Peak Oil issues.  The challenges posed by Peak Oil and the responses they will compel are multi-faceted and enormously complex.  The webinar series, we hope, will help put these issues into a useful perspective.  For example, Jeffrey Brown’s presentation focused on oil export trends and the importance of rising oil consumption, especially in oil-exporting nations, in addition to overall production.  This work is fundamental to forming a clear view of the global oil picture.  Meanwhile, Art Berman’s insightful analyses of shale gas and shale oil plays commands serious attention, and we plan to bring in other expert viewpoints to compare and contrast with Art’s work.

Each webinar is scheduled as a “live” event with attendees listening in and asking questions in real time to the presenter or panelists.  However, every webinar will be recorded and available for future viewing along with other video products on ASPO.TV.  This allows users to “attend” a webinar at their convenience, and allows ASPO-USA to develop a library of recorded webinars that can be used for other purposes.

Is there a specific topic or question that you would like to see addressed in an ASPO-USA webinar?  Please feel free to share your ideas and specific interests.  The ASPO-USA webinar series is intended to serve the needs and goals of our members and constituents.  Your input will help us achieve that goal.

For more information, check out the ASPO-USA Webinar Series webpage or email us at info@aspousa.org.

Upcoming Webinars

May 17–Shale Oil in Perspective – Art Berman

June 7–A National Oil Emergency Response Plan – Roger Bezdek